New Delhi : Close on the heels of the constitution of a separate Gurdwara panel in Haryana, the Maharashtra government has followed suit to give yet another shock to the Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), slashing its role in the management of the Takht Sri Hazur Sahib Gurdwara in Nanded.
The SGPC leaders are fuming over Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan taking a cue from his Haryana counterpart Congress chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to let the state cabinet approve the Bhatia committee report Thursday night to democratise management of the Nanded Gurdwara Board through majority to the elected representatives from Maharashtra.
The new Hazur Sahib management board will have just one nominated representative of the SGPC in place of present four members to reduce its clout to the minimal. Instead of the old system of 14 members of the board nominated and only three elected from Maharashtra, the new board will have 18 elected — 9 of them from Nanded and equal number of 9 others from other parts of the state such as Mumbai and Nagpur — and only three nominated, who will include the Nanded district collector, a representative of the Maharashtra government.
Sources said the state government decided not to eliminate the SGPC completely since it is a vital link in the Sikh community but its role has been minimised to give the local leaders a complete say over managing the Huzur Sahib. The new board also provides for reservation of four of the 18 elected seats for women.
